State of the art trafficway controllers are characterized by teeth raised into position where said teeth are inherently destructive to vehicular tires traveling in a prohibited direction of travel but also inadvertently dangerous to trespassers who may stumble onto these teeth.
There are three basic types of such controllers, 1) those which are counterbalanced or have spring biased depressible teeth, 2) those in which the teeth are mechanically lifted or lowered as by means of motor activation and having either a raised or retracted tooth position, and 3) those of the foregoing "2" type wherein the teeth are depressible from the raised position.
For those vehicles traveling in a permitted direction, the teeth are retracted or depressible and non-destructive and perhaps but not necessarily non-injurious to individuals contacting them. The teeth are sharp and potentially injurious to persons who might forcefully come into contact with them, when said teeth are in an exposed raised position. In other words, the prior art trafficway controllers of the type under consideration are not person friendly and could be injurious to tresspassers. Accordingly, it is a general object of this invention to provide a trafficway controller that is driver intimidating but person friendly and substantially non-injurious, having a passive mode permitting damage free vehicular traffic in one correct direction of travel, and an active destructive mode that destroys tires of vehicular traffic traveling in opposite directions and/or in a wrong-way direction of travel.
Trafficway controllers are metal fabrications comprised generally of a frame (above or below grade) that establishes a mounting channel for carrying intimidating teeth in a series extending transversely of a trafficway to be controlled. Accordingly, there is a plurality of teeth individually or modularly mounted in groups to extend upwardly above grade level and adapted to be depressed to or below grade level. Conventional state of the art teeth are pivotally mounted within a frame on a horizontally disposed pivotal axis, and motor driven or balanced by gravity or spring biased and/or mechanically operated so as to extend upwardly to a stopped intimidating tire destructive position against wrong way vehicular traffic, and also adapted to be collapsible, retracted or depressed by motor means actuated as by a card reader or by remote switch or radio control, to a non-destructive position for right-way vehicular traffic. Or the teeth can be slidably mounted so as to be raised and retracted. Characteristically, when in the vehicle driver intimidating position, the pointed teeth are exposed to pedestrians who may be using the trafficway for ingress or egress, whether authorized to do so or not, and these unprotected teeth are not person friendly. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to render the driver intimidating tire destructive teeth person friendly and substantially non-injurious to tresspassing pedestrians.
It is an object of this invention to improve the tire piercing capability of trafficway controllers, in order to ensure penetration through the reinforced tread of steel belted radial ply tires. Heretofore, rough-cut sheet steel teeth have sufficed for piercing conventional biased ply tires of the older original design. However, the present state of the art steel belted radial tires are much improved from the standpoint of durability and their resistance to tread penetration. And, it has been determined that roughly sharpened trafficway controller teeth do not ensure penetration of said improved present day state of the art steel belted tires. Therefore, the present invention provides a precision spike configuration, replacing the former crude tooth configuration, which is conveniently formed of a higher grade steel having properties to ensure piercing of said improved steel belted tire treads.
In view of the foregoing objectives, it is a primary object of this invention to cover the sharp driver intimidating tire destructive points of the spikes so as to protect pedestrians and to alternately expose the spikes to be engaged by a vehicle tire moving in said wrong traffic direction. Therefore, it is an object herein to provide a cover member that remains in its spike point covering protective position when engaged by a pedestrian, and a cover member that collapses, moves or is displaced from said spike so as to expose its point when forcefully engaged by a vehicle tire. In practice, the cover member is collapsible, movable or breakable from its protective position, temporarily or permanently, and preferably the latter in which case the cover member is structurally sound under normal loading that can be applied by pedestrian engagement, and collapsible, crushable, movable or frangible under severe loading of vehicular tire engagement applied by said wrong way vehicle traffic.
In carrying out this invention, the aforesaid preferred cover member is a sleeve or cap that is engaged over the spike point. For example, a sleeve type cover member that is retractile on the spike and held captive thereon, a sleeve type cover member that is collapsible or crushable, or preferably a cap type cover member that is frangible for breakaway removal from its protective position affixed over the spike point. Accordingly, the cap type cover member is an expendable part that is replaceable and secured in its working position by friction or by detent and preferably by toothed engagement onto the spike. Threaded engagement, shear-pin retention, or a positive lock shoulder engagement can also be emloyed, all as circumstances require.
Particularly, it is an object of this invention to provide a person friendly cover member and compatible spike configuration for trafficway controllers that is structurally sound to sustain normal pedestrian abuse while being person friendly, and that is collapsible or broken away when subjected to forceful wrong way vehicular tire traffic, whereby the cover member is displaced from its passive protective position over the spike point. In practice, the cap member is an expendable and preferably a replaceable injection molded plastic part that is collapsible or crushable and preferably strategically weakened for its determined effectiveness.
It is an object of this invention to provide a cover member and spike combination with spike point exposure means for removing said cover member from the spike point when subjected to heavy loads imposed by a vehicle tire rolling thereover in a wrong prohibited direction of travel, and also for ensuring retainment of said cover member over said spike point when subjected to loads imposed by bodily engagement of a tresspassing pedestrian. The spike point exposure means ensures penetration of the spike point through the cover member when subjected to said heavy tire loads by penatrability, crushability or collapsibility of or frangability of said cover member. The spike point exposure means is characterized by sharpness of the spike and/or inclined cam interengagement thereof with the cover member. It is the forceful tire engagement that operates the breakaway means for penetrating and/or shifting the cover member from the spike point and thereby completely exposing its damaging point.
Forward motion of a vehicle tire will tend to scuff the cover member from the spike member, and any braking of the vehicle will tend to drag the cover member forwardly along the spike member. Therefore, it is an object of this invention to eliminate and at least reduce said scuffing and said drag. Firstly, scuffing is reduced by providing a guard ahead of and isolating the butt end of the cover member from tire contact. Secondly, drag is resisted by anchoring the cover member to the spike member. And thirdly, wear is reduced and scuffing eliminated by a shield that isolates the cover from tire contact during right-way traffic. Accordingly, a set screw is provided to secure the spike member in working position, the head of which simultaneously forms an abutment and secures the shield over which the tire rides when depressing the spike member, thereby preventing scuffing and drag. In practice, the spike body is provided with a series of small forwardly faced teeth to anchor the overlying cover member in the passive working position; a ratchet effect for push-on retention of the cover member over the spike member.
In addition to the replacability of the cover member, it is also an object of this invention to provide for replacability of the spike member which is subject to damage upon severe impact when destroying a wrong-way tire. Accordingly, the spike per se is a simple rod of high quality steel sharpened at its active end, and with a normal butt end at its mounted base. In practice, a shouldered socket mounting is provided to secure and position the base of the spike member, there being a dual purpose set screw to secure the rod-shaped spike member in working position and to shield the cover member from initial scuffing by the vehicle tire.